Runway Journal is calling for proposals for our upcoming digital publication Issue 46: Ghost, guest edited by Xanthe Dobbie. 👻
We invite submissions for written, artistic and cross-disciplinary works that respond to this theme and the callout prompt below.
A ghost is a body dispersed across time [1]
Temporal dislocation
Horizons fused
A glitch
An anti-body – surviving through mutability [2]
A past which haunts a present
Possibly a future
Unfinished business
Low opacity purpose
Earthbound by…
Obligation?
Love?
Vengeance?
Seems romantic
I have ghosted many men in my life
I didn’t know that it could hurt them
Until I discovered my queerness
And realised that people have feelings
Do ghosts!?
Ghosts are everywhere
On the internet
Little shrines
Erected to the living
(And the dead of course)
The Snapchat logo is no coincidence 👻👀
Myspace is the teething ghost of an entire generation
Second Life was living ghosts
The Metaverse is an army of ghosts
Bred in captivity for capitalism
All avatars are ghosts
Beings made of pixels and light
Cinema is the art of ghosts
A battle of phantoms [3]
Uncanny Valley murmurations
Written in code
Blurring the lines
Between truth and illusion
Hybrid beings
Post-truth cyborgs
Freed from the body
The body is a ghost in waiting
[1] Jesse Darling, “Intimacy Keynote,” Google Doc, June 2, 2015, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LfaD6Zas5vhitkbzhLdSmyYj6pulwYjsfczOgO0FnFw/edit
[2] Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto (London: Verso Books, 2020).
[3] Jacques Derrida playing himself in Ghost Dance, directed by Ken McMullen (Mediabox Limited U.K., 2008).
Video credit: Issue 46: Ghost callout graphic remix of Unsolved Mysteries; design by Runway Journal, 2022.
Soundtrack: Audio narration of Robert Stack AI reading callout prompt with Unsolved Mysteries theme; supplied by Xanthe Dobbie, 2022
Callout prompt by Xanthe Dobbie.
Download a plain text version.
About Runway Journal
Now in its 20th year, Runway Journal is a free, open-access digital publication that cultivates critical, bold and experimental practice. We commission artistic and written works that respond to current ideas in Australian and international contemporary art. Runway is powered by a dedicated team of voluntary artists and arts workers based across Australia. Visit our website to learn more.
About the Guest Editor
Xanthe Dobbie is an artist and filmmaker. Working across on- and offline modes of making, their practice aims to capture the experience of contemporaneity as reflected through queer and feminist ideologies. Drawing on humour, pop, sex, history and iconography, they develop shrines to a post-truth era. They have exhibited extensively locally and internationally with recent works including live-streamed theater, interactive media, AR, VR, collage, performance and installation. Xanthe is currently undertaking a PhD focusing on digital and interactive art at RMIT University. Xanthe lives and works between the unceded lands of the Widjabul/Wyabul people of the Bundjalung Nation and the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Sovereignty was never ceded.
What fees & timeframe do you receive to develop works for the issue?
Contributors will be supported to produce new works over an 8-week period by two members of the Runway Journal board – one editor and one digital producer. Please consider this timeframe in relation to the scope of your proposed work. Each contributor will be paid $600 AUD plus superannuation for their commissioned work.
We encourage you to peruse past issues for ideas: runway.org.au/archive
As Runway Journal aims to support a variety of practitioners and new voices, applicants who have not been commissioned by Runway Journal in the past year will be favoured.
What is the selection criteria?
When evaluating each proposal, the selection committee will consider the following:
– To what extent does the proposal respond to the notion of 'Ghost'?
– Is the proposed work critical; timely, responsive, research-based or relevant?
– Does the proposed work experiment with form? Is it brave, does it challenge the dominant narrative?
– How does this proposal serve to develop skills and help to innovate the applicant's practice?
What support does Runway Journal offer?
Runway Journal's editorial and digital team members endeavour to offer support and share knowledge so that the work delivered develops a line of enquiry in your personal practice while remaining connected to the overarching theme of 'Ghost'.
We offer editorial support across fiction, critical essays and poetry. We can provide feedback across digital artworks and will work with you to create new ways to present work on our online platform. We do not see this relationship as a hierarchical one, and acknowledge that we will also learn from you in the process of developing your work.
What applicants are we looking for?
We are seeking applications from people working across a range of experience and practices, including artists, writers, poets, cross-disciplinary practitioners and more. We strongly encourage applications from First Nations peoples, people living with a disability, people based in regional and remote Australia, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We are also open to contributors based outside of Australia.
Have further questions? Contact us!
Please reach out to runway@runway.org.au with questions or if you need assistance through the application process. Please contact us if you wish to submit your application via email. Not on our mailing list? Subscribe here.
Runway Journal is calling for proposals for our upcoming digital publication Issue 46: Ghost, guest edited by Xanthe Dobbie. 👻
We invite submissions for written, artistic and cross-disciplinary works that respond to this theme and the callout prompt below.
A ghost is a body dispersed across time [1]
Temporal dislocation
Horizons fused
A glitch
An anti-body – surviving through mutability [2]
A past which haunts a present
Possibly a future
Unfinished business
Low opacity purpose
Earthbound by…
Obligation?
Love?
Vengeance?
Seems romantic
I have ghosted many men in my life
I didn’t know that it could hurt them
Until I discovered my queerness
And realised that people have feelings
Do ghosts!?
Ghosts are everywhere
On the internet
Little shrines
Erected to the living
(And the dead of course)
The Snapchat logo is no coincidence 👻👀
Myspace is the teething ghost of an entire generation
Second Life was living ghosts
The Metaverse is an army of ghosts
Bred in captivity for capitalism
All avatars are ghosts
Beings made of pixels and light
Cinema is the art of ghosts
A battle of phantoms [3]
Uncanny Valley murmurations
Written in code
Blurring the lines
Between truth and illusion
Hybrid beings
Post-truth cyborgs
Freed from the body
The body is a ghost in waiting
[1] Jesse Darling, “Intimacy Keynote,” Google Doc, June 2, 2015, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LfaD6Zas5vhitkbzhLdSmyYj6pulwYjsfczOgO0FnFw/edit
[2] Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto (London: Verso Books, 2020).
[3] Jacques Derrida playing himself in Ghost Dance, directed by Ken McMullen (Mediabox Limited U.K., 2008).
Video credit: Issue 46: Ghost callout graphic remix of Unsolved Mysteries; design by Runway Journal, 2022.
Soundtrack: Audio narration of Robert Stack AI reading callout prompt with Unsolved Mysteries theme; supplied by Xanthe Dobbie, 2022
Callout prompt by Xanthe Dobbie.
Download a plain text version.
About Runway Journal
Now in its 20th year, Runway Journal is a free, open-access digital publication that cultivates critical, bold and experimental practice. We commission artistic and written works that respond to current ideas in Australian and international contemporary art. Runway is powered by a dedicated team of voluntary artists and arts workers based across Australia. Visit our website to learn more.
About the Guest Editor
Xanthe Dobbie is an artist and filmmaker. Working across on- and offline modes of making, their practice aims to capture the experience of contemporaneity as reflected through queer and feminist ideologies. Drawing on humour, pop, sex, history and iconography, they develop shrines to a post-truth era. They have exhibited extensively locally and internationally with recent works including live-streamed theater, interactive media, AR, VR, collage, performance and installation. Xanthe is currently undertaking a PhD focusing on digital and interactive art at RMIT University. Xanthe lives and works between the unceded lands of the Widjabul/Wyabul people of the Bundjalung Nation and the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Sovereignty was never ceded.
What fees & timeframe do you receive to develop works for the issue?
Contributors will be supported to produce new works over an 8-week period by two members of the Runway Journal board – one editor and one digital producer. Please consider this timeframe in relation to the scope of your proposed work. Each contributor will be paid $600 AUD plus superannuation for their commissioned work.
We encourage you to peruse past issues for ideas: runway.org.au/archive
As Runway Journal aims to support a variety of practitioners and new voices, applicants who have not been commissioned by Runway Journal in the past year will be favoured.
What is the selection criteria?
When evaluating each proposal, the selection committee will consider the following:
– To what extent does the proposal respond to the notion of 'Ghost'?
– Is the proposed work critical; timely, responsive, research-based or relevant?
– Does the proposed work experiment with form? Is it brave, does it challenge the dominant narrative?
– How does this proposal serve to develop skills and help to innovate the applicant's practice?
What support does Runway Journal offer?
Runway Journal's editorial and digital team members endeavour to offer support and share knowledge so that the work delivered develops a line of enquiry in your personal practice while remaining connected to the overarching theme of 'Ghost'.
We offer editorial support across fiction, critical essays and poetry. We can provide feedback across digital artworks and will work with you to create new ways to present work on our online platform. We do not see this relationship as a hierarchical one, and acknowledge that we will also learn from you in the process of developing your work.
What applicants are we looking for?
We are seeking applications from people working across a range of experience and practices, including artists, writers, poets, cross-disciplinary practitioners and more. We strongly encourage applications from First Nations peoples, people living with a disability, people based in regional and remote Australia, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We are also open to contributors based outside of Australia.
Have further questions? Contact us!
Please reach out to runway@runway.org.au with questions or if you need assistance through the application process. Please contact us if you wish to submit your application via email. Not on our mailing list? Subscribe here.
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway Journal is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Runway Journal receives project support from the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway Journal is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Runway Journal receives project support from the NSW Government through Create NSW.